Chicago Bears: 5 thoughts on another loss to the Green Bay Packers

Jackson needs to play better if he wants the narrative to change

Eddie Jackson has never been a great tackler in his career. Heck, he hasn’t been a good one, even in college. It seems, however, that his tackling has progressively gotten worse the past two seasons.

On the big 41-yard Rodgers completion to Adams in the fourth quarter, Jackson had a chance to minimize the yardage. Instead of going after Adams, he just threw a shoulder. Had Adams not stepped out of bounds it would have been a touchdown.

In Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, Matthew Stafford completed a long pass. Jackson was standing over the receiver who was on the ground. Instead of touching him, he allowed the receiver to get up and run in for a score.

It seems that Jackson has made what Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders calls his weak tackling — a business decision. Sanders also wasn’t a very good tackler.

The difference is that Sanders covered receivers like no one else could and he was a huge ball hawk. Those skills made up for the tackling.

Jackson had the ball hawk skills as well, but in the past couple of seasons, he hasn’t shown them. He’s gone 16 straight games without an interception. He does have four forced fumbles in that time, though.

Being a safety, Jackson and his partner Tashaun Gipson are the defense’s last line of defense. If they miss a chance at a tackle, the ball carrier will have a big run.

Jackson has heard the criticisms. After the game, he took to Twitter to answer former Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs on his criticism.

Instead of bringing up a decade-old Tweet to take a shot at someone, Jackson should just play better. Lost in the whole controversy was the fact that he had a season-high eight tackles in the game. Not many will know that when he’s playing petty games.

He needs to just go out there and be the All-Pro safety he was a couple of seasons ago.